On the farm's grassy field, all the Pokémon had gathered around Vileplume, who stood at the center.
News had spread that Vileplume had learned a new move, and the other Pokémon were all curious to see what it could do.
"Vileplume, go ahead and show everyone," Aven said with a smile.
The effects of the move Grassy Terrain were bound to make it a core asset to their team.
"Na-na-na~"
Vileplume's body began to glow with a soft green light.
Soon, green radiance gathered around it, slowly forming into a glowing green aura that spread outward in waves.
The expanding ring of green light bathed the entire field, with grass-type energy surging through it.
Wrapped in this verdant glow, warm currents flowed into everyone's body.
Feeling the energy coursing through him, Aven slowly closed his eyes.
He often received help from Petilil's Aromatherapy to restore his stamina, and this sensation felt very similar.
However, compared to Aromatherapy, this energy was much weaker and less potent—but it definitely had a healing effect.
Compared to Aven's mild reaction, Petilil, Cherrim, and Tangela felt it much more deeply.
Petilil's body began to glow as it used Absorb, firing a bright green beam of energy.
Lately, Petilil had been training to sense the boost from the Life Orb when using Absorb, so it was highly sensitive to changes in its move's power.
After a quick test, it could clearly feel that the strength of Absorb had significantly increased.
Although it wasn't as powerful as with the Life Orb, it was still a noticeable improvement.
At the same time, Cherrim's flower petals twitched, and it began gathering solar energy for Solar Beam.
It too clearly felt that the charging time had sped up.
Tangela, who possessed the Regenerator ability, was even more sensitive to recovery-type energy and immediately gave a very positive evaluation.
"Plume~"
Receiving unanimous praise from its companions, Vileplume was visibly delighted.
"That's enough for now, Vileplume," Aven said.
"Take a break—we'll be trying something else soon."
Obediently, Vileplume ceased using Grassy Terrain.
Petilil eagerly ran over, excitedly asking Vileplume about how it felt to use the move.
The other Grass-type Pokémon also crowded around, unable to resist the allure of Grassy Terrain.
Seeing this, Aven smiled knowingly.
In theory, all these Grass-types could learn Grassy Terrain.
But it was an exceptionally difficult move to master, so most of them had very little chance of succeeding.
If any of them did manage to learn it, it would be a huge bonus.
After watching the group for a while, Aven turned and walked toward the Berry Grove.
Over there, Uncle Mike was tending to the orchard, clearing away fallen leaves and weeds.
Thanks to their diligent care through the winter, all the berry trees had survived and were already sprouting new buds.
By this spring, the Oran berry trees would be full of fruit again.
Looking at the developing buds, Uncle Mike's eyes were filled with anticipation.
In the grove, Cherubi were playfully darting about.
Tangela's long vines occasionally swayed through the trees, adding a splash of blue to the lush greenery.
Starly stood perched on a branch, grooming its feathers but keeping a sharp eye on the surroundings.
Every spring, the grove saw a rise in bugs, and one of Starly's main duties was to chase away any intruders.
"Aven, you're just in time," Uncle Mike called.
"I was about to ask you about buying more berry saplings."
"Since the nine villages have merged, we'll need a huge number of saplings. We should start contacting vendors now."
"You're right," Aven nodded. "But before that, I want to run an experiment. If it works, we might not need to buy any at all."
Uncle Mike looked puzzled, but followed as Aven entered the small courtyard beside the grove.
The cabin had been expanded many times and was now fairly spacious.
In the front courtyard were dozens of sealed wooden barrels—each one containing special fertilizer.
These fertilizers had been created using unripe berries collected from villagers before winter, now fermented over the past season.
The berries that everyone had once thought were useless had undergone a transformation, now radiating new vitality.
Inside the cabin, piles of berry seeds were stacked high like little mountains.
These seeds had been set aside during Aven's potion crafting, carefully selected for high quality.
"Rhy!"
Before long, Rhydon arrived at the cabin.
Aven quickly called it over to help move the barrels onto a cart.
"Rhy!"
Rhydon was as spirited as ever. Aside from training, it especially enjoyed doing chores around the farm—such a life gave it fulfillment.
Because of its hardworking nature, both Uncle Mike and Aunt Erin treated it like a member of the family.
With a happy roar, Rhydon stepped into the courtyard, picked up one of the heavy barrels with ease, and loaded it onto the cart.
Its strength was immense—what normally took two people to lift was nothing for Rhydon.
In the future Pokémon world, Pokémon had long become integrated into every aspect of human life.
Physical labor was often handled by Pokémon now.
For example, construction sites often employed Machoke, who could perform tasks far beyond human capability.
After loading a crate of Oran berry seeds and a few barrels of fertilizer onto the cart, Aven and Uncle Mike headed toward an open field on the farm.
With spring arriving, Uncle Mike was planning to expand the berry grove.
A plot of land had already been prepared—thanks to Rhydon's continuous use of Rototiller, the soil was rich and fertile, ideal for planting berries.
This season, Uncle Mike planned to grow more than just Oran berries.
The new varieties had been carefully chosen for their use in crafting Pokémon food.
He and Aunt Erin had been managing Pokémon food production recently and had become quite familiar with the best berries for it.
Aven had also requested his own small plot of land—this would serve as his test field.
Though not large, it would be sufficient for his experiment.
Seeing Aven arrive, Vileplume, Petilil, Cherrim, and the others came over.
"Aven, you're planning to grow the saplings yourself?" Uncle Mike asked hesitantly.
Normally, it would take at least a month for a berry seed to grow into a sapling.
Buying ready-made saplings would be quicker and less effort.
Still, berry saplings were expensive—if Aven could grow them himself, it would save a significant amount of money.
"I'll test it first," Aven said. "If it doesn't work, we'll buy them."
"Rhydon, use Rototiller to till the land again."
With a loud roar, Rhydon raised its foot and stomped heavily on the ground.
A surge of Ground-type energy burst forth, and a wave of energy swept across the field.
Wherever it passed, the soil was instantly turned, brimming with vitality.
When training outside the village, Rhydon often practiced by running and using Rototiller at the same time—good for its body, its moves, and the land.
After so much practice, Rhydon had mastered the ability to use Rototiller purely through ground energy!
"Petilil, you're up," Aven said.
Petilil nodded. Green light shimmered around it as it used a modified form of Leech Seed.
This time, instead of creating new seeds, it used the energy to control the berry seeds in the crate.
The seeds were enveloped in green light, then gently floated into the air and drifted toward the field.
Once above the tilled earth, they dropped in, spaced neatly apart.
"Lil- Lil - Lil ~"
After planting all the seeds, Petilil was visibly tired.
It had used Leech Seed in a unique way—to manipulate the seeds rather than generate its own.
Seeing the planting completed, Aven took a deep breath.
"Vileplume, use Grassy Terrain!"
Vileplume, already prepared, nodded slightly.
It glowed softly as it gathered grass-type and natural energy.
Then, green light spread outward in a ring, bathing the entire field in glowing radiance.
The soil responded in kind, sparkling with leftover energy from Rototiller, now awakened and resonating with Vileplume's power.
Under Vileplume's influence, the entire field transformed into a special terrain infused with rich grass-type energy.
(End of Chapter)